Doing Interfaith Ministry
Why I choose to fellowship and serve with people of other faiths
Last week I attended an interfaith ministry gathering in my city. The organization that sponsored the gathering does an amazing job connecting faith leaders from many different religions who all have one thing in common: a desire to serve others.
After a fellow employee had told me about this organization, I attended a few of their online meetings, but this was the first time I went to one of their main events in person. I did not know exactly what to expect but assumed it would be a small intimate gathering. I mean, other than me, how many religious people have any interest in working alongside people from other traditions? I thought there couldn’t be more than a handful of us, even in a city as large as Charlotte. Boy was I wrong! When I entered the large dining hall, I found hundreds of people from all different backgrounds gathered around tables sharing breakfast and hearty conversations. At first glance I was able to identify Protestant Christians, Catholic Christians, Orthodox Christians, Jews, Sikhs, Bahais, and Mormons. Yes, Mormons! Out of all the faith traditions I expected to see at an interfaith event, Mormons didn’t even make my list. To my surprise, though, breakfast was being served to us cafeteria style by a winding line of men and women in white tops and black bottoms wearing that classic Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints nametag. It was then I knew I was in a special, sacred place.
You might be wondering what would compel a deeply committed Christian such as myself to share the table with people from other religions. There are two main reasons why. The first reason is that I am more interested in the things we can share than I am put-off by the things we cannot. In this case, we share the desire to serve others. Service awards were given to various faith leaders at the event. The first award was given to a Mormon woman who had served the city in various ways over the past year making a lasting impact on many. During her acceptance speech, she wept as she shared stories of feeding the hungry alongside a group of Muslims who had come to help. On the ground, while feeding hungry people, the love and desire to serve others connected them more than their religious beliefs divided them. People on mission don’t have time or interest in being divisive, they are more interested in working together for the common good. Any minister who has ever tried to get outside the four walls of their institution and make a difference in their city has discovered the importance of collaboration. Hungry people don’t care what you believe, they only care about how much you care. Interfaith work calls us to lay down our egos and our desire to be right in exchange for the opportunity to meet the felt needs of the community and change lives in a real and tangible way.
Additionally, I find something deeply spiritual and encouraging about interfaith work. I felt the Spirit of God in the dining hall that day. There is something about sharing fellowship and a meal with others who choose not to see you as “different” or “other” based on your beliefs that feels humanizing—and holy. That hope-filled room of people from all different backgrounds, races, ethnicities, and religions looked like the Kingdom of Heaven to me. That doesn’t make me a pluralist or a universalist, but it helps me as a Christian see how God is indeed “over all, through all, and in all” (Ephesians 4:6). It moves me deeply on a spiritual and emotional level to see people of various faiths living in harmony with one another. In this way, I share the vision of Heaven that Tyler Childers expresses in his song Angel Band (Hallelujah Version):
There's Hindus, Jews, and Muslims
And Baptists of all kinds
Catholic girls and Amish boys
Who've left their plows behind
Up there in the choir
Singin' side by side
Wonderin' why exactly
They've been fussin' the whole time
I have come to terms with the reality that not everyone will see interfaith work in the same light that I do, especially among my tribe of Christians. I am learning to be okay with that and to be okay with the judgment I receive from those with a different perspective. Which is why I appreciated the words spoken by another minister at this event. While describing people involved in interfaith work, she described us as “bridge-builders.” She said, “Bridge-builders are spiritual engineers who are always seeing things differently and trying to build better and safer passageways.” If you have ever worked on a project alongside an engineer, you know how infuriating it can be. They are open to all the options, they take their time exploring every possibility, they see things you can’t see, and they refuse to do things the way they have always been done because they are convinced that there is always a better way. While they might infuriate you at first, in the end engineers will also make your life and your world so much better. May God allow me many opportunities to be a spiritual engineer in the Kingdom during my lifetime. Amen.